A devastating fire that claimed four dairy barns and about 800 dairy cows near Steinbach has drawn attention and criticism across Canada. The fire at Pennwood Dairy was reported in the Globe and Mail, as well as several Winnipeg news outlets. Animal advocacy organizations have since called for change to industry regulations. Steinbach fire Chief […] Read more

Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer was back in the headlines recently after a visit to an agricultural fair in Ste. Hyacinthe, Quebec, clearly intended to brand himself as a friend of Canada’s dairy farmers. This friendship may not be helpful. Scheer’s visit follows his widely reported comments to a Dairy Farmers of Canada meeting in […] Read more

Canadian dairy farmers are getting smaller when it comes to their impact on the environment, says a study done for Dairy Farmers of Canada by Groupe AGECO. The Canadian dairy sector has achieved one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world and every litre of milk it produces creates one-third of the greenhouse gas […] Read more

Dairy Farmers of Manitoba chair David Wiens minced no words in his address to the organization’s annual general meeting earlier this month. “This has been one of the most dramatic years,” he told the assembled delegates. He was of course mainly referencing the recently negotiated United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and how it has affected the […] Read more

Manitoba dairy producers who sat down with the Co-operator at the recent Manitoba Dairy Conference don’t look like bargaining chips — but lately that’s exactly what they’ve become. In successive rounds of trade deals they’ve repeatedly lost market share to imports from other jurisdictions, most recently in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). While they weren’t […] Read more

The federal government is still facing political pressure to deliver on compensation plans for dairy and poultry producers. And those calling for action say it needs to happen in advance of signing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Before starting Parliament’s week-long Thanksgiving break, MPs from all parties backed a motion calling for a financial compensation […] Read more

Manitoba dairy farmers attending annual meetings this month are trying to understand the coming changes as a result of the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). There are some serious questions being asked about what the new deal means for the family farm and their future, said David Wiens, a Manitoba dairy farmer and vice-president of […] Read more

Dairy farmers reeling from the uncertainty descending on their farms in light of the new trade deal can take heart in one thing, says Manitoba dairy farmer and Dairy Farmers of Canada vice-president David Wiens. “There’s one thing the government can’t take away from us with this trade deal, and it is the relationship we […] Read more

Within hours of announcing a new free trade deal with the United States and Mexico, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland were promising compensation for dairy and poultry farmers. While Trudeau and Freeland talked as if the compensation discussions had already started, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay has just begun to arrange […] Read more

Reuters – Marie-Pier Vincent, a fourth-generation Quebec dairy farmer, worries it will be even harder to make ends meet as Canada allows more tariff-free imports of milk products from the United States under a reworked North American Free Trade Agreement. Vincent, 28, is already looking for a second job to pay back the money she […] Read more